Four months after four San Jose police officers were caught posting offensive comments on a private Facebook page, the Santa Clara County district attorney has announced he will seek to dismiss more than a dozen cases in which the officers’ testimony was pivotal to a conviction.
The move, announced Thursday, demonstrates a growing push among law enforcement leaders and community advocates to demonstrate consequences for officers who misuse social media, an increasing problem in California and other states.
In June, posts made in a law enforcement group on social media were leaked by an anonymous source claiming to be the spouse of a Bay Area officer.
The whistleblower essay, published on the website Medium, included screenshots of posts in which multiple current and former officers at the San Jose Police Department used comments or images derogatory toward women, Muslims and people of color.
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